Dionysus delivers an opening monologue revealing he has come to Thebes disguised as a mortal to punish those who denied his divinity.

Dionysus has already driven the Theban women mad, compelling them to abandon the city for the mountains before the story begins.

Pentheus returns to Thebes after hearing alarming reports of women abandoning the city for Mount Cithaeron.

Pentheus confronts Teiresias and Cadmus, scorning their embrace of Dionysian worship and threatening harsh punishment for the foreigner from Lydia.

Teiresias warns Pentheus that denying a god brings ruin, then departs with Cadmus to worship Dionysus.

A wary soldier leads the peacefully unresisting Dionysus before Pentheus, who mocks the prisoner's feminine appearance.

Pentheus orders his soldiers to take Dionysus into the palace as a prisoner, ignoring the god's warnings.

Dionysus calmly escapes the palace and confronts a furious Pentheus outside.

A herdsman messenger describes the maenads' miraculous acts and violent sweep through nearby villages, urging Pentheus to honor Dionysus.

Dionysus proposes that Pentheus disguise himself as a maenad to spy safely on the women at Mount Cithaeron.

Pentheus emerges from the palace wearing a maenad costume and claims to see two suns and two cities of Thebes.

Dionysus calls to the maenads to punish the man spying on them from the top of a pine tree.

Agaue leads the maenads in tearing Pentheus apart limb from limb and carries off his severed head as a trophy.

Agaue returns to Thebes holding Pentheus' severed head, still believing it to be a mountain lion's.

Dionysus appears above the stage and sentences Cadmus to transformation into a serpent and his daughters to exile, unmoved by Cadmus' grief.

Dionysus arrives in Thebes in mortal disguise, determined to establish his worship and punish those who have denied his divinity. When the ruling king Pentheus rejects the god and refuses every warning, Dionysus shifts from persuasion to punishment. He lures Pentheus into dressing as a maenad and leads him into the mountains under the pretense of spying on the women. There, Dionysus exposes Pentheus to his own frenzied followers, who tear him apart, led by his own mother Agaue. Agaue carries her son's head back to Thebes as a trophy, believing it to be a mountain lion's, and only slowly comes back to her senses. The play ends with Dionysus appearing above the stage to sentence the entire family to exile and transformation, indifferent to their grief.

The Bacchant Chorus enters Thebes chanting the story of Dionysus' miraculous divine birth from Zeus's thigh.

Teiresias arrives at Cadmus' door searching for him so the two can worship Dionysus together.

Cadmus and Teiresias dress properly for Dionysian worship, declaring themselves the only Thebans to have accepted the god.

Cadmus urges Pentheus to honor Dionysus, arguing that a god in the family brings prestige to all its members.

The Chorus sings in praise of Dionysus after Pentheus rejects him, warning mortals not to exceed the limits of their nature.

The soldier reports to Pentheus that the Bacchants he had imprisoned spontaneously freed themselves from their bonds.

The Chorus urges Dionysus, whose voice they can hear from inside the palace, to set the building on fire.

Inside the palace, Pentheus is deluded into wrestling a bull, believing the animal to be his prisoner from Lydia.

The maenads on Cithaeron nurse young deer and wolf cubs and strike the earth with wands to summon wine, milk, and water.

Herdsmen attempt to capture the maenads in the mountains but are routed when the women turn violently on their attackers.

Dionysus tells the Chorus that a trap has been laid to lure Pentheus to humiliation and death at his mother's hands.

The Chorus sings an ode celebrating the approach of Pentheus' punishment as he is led toward the mountains.

Pentheus rips off his headband and begs his mother Agaue not to hurt him, but she does not recognize him.

Cadmus arrives carrying Pentheus' scattered remains and grieves that Agaue's madness still shields her from fully comprehending what she has done.

Agaue and Cadmus sing a sorrowful farewell to each other as she prepares to leave Thebes forever.

The Bacchant Chorus arrives in Thebes chanting praise of Dionysus, while the city's two elder statesmen, Teiresias and Cadmus, quietly and earnestly adopt the god's rites. When Pentheus imprisons Dionysus, supernatural events accumulate around him — the Bacchants free themselves, the god escapes, and a messenger delivers a vivid report of wonders in the mountains. Dionysus then confides to the Chorus that a trap has been set for Pentheus, and the Chorus sings in gleeful anticipation of the king's destruction. The second messenger brings news of Pentheus' death, and Agaue's return with her son's head sets in motion the long, agonizing scene of grief between her and Cadmus. The pool ends with the two survivors bidding each other a sorrow-laden farewell before Agaue departs for exile.

Pentheus accuses the maenads of using Dionysus as a cover for worshipping Aphrodite, revealing his rigid refusal to consider the divine.

Teiresias rebukes Pentheus, arguing that a fluent tongue is worthless without wisdom and that poor judgment makes a man a bad citizen.

Pentheus orders that the foreigner from Lydia be captured and stoned to death for corrupting the women of Thebes.

Dionysus warns Pentheus to show reverence to the god, but Pentheus ignores every warning and demands the prisoner be confined.

The Chorus calls on Zeus to come down and destroy Pentheus after the city rejects Dionysus.

Dionysus tells the Chorus he watched calmly as Pentheus exhausted himself battling a bull he mistook for his divine prisoner.

The herdsman messenger's account of inexplicable wonders fails to move Pentheus, who grows more determined to raise an army against the maenads.

Pentheus' curiosity about watching the maenads is instantly ignited the moment Dionysus raises the possibility of spying on them.

Pentheus reluctantly agrees to wear a maenad's dress after Dionysus argues it is the only safe way to observe the women.

Dionysus adjusts Pentheus' costume and hairband, declaring that Pentheus has undergone a change of mind and is now of sound judgment.

Dionysus miraculously bends a tall pine tree to the ground and seats Pentheus at its top, where the maenads can see him.

A messenger arrives to announce Pentheus' death and scolds the Chorus for breaking into celebration rather than lamentation.

Cadmus gently steers a frenzied Agaue back to sanity by instructing her to look carefully and properly at the head in her arms.

Agaue realizes with horror that the severed head she has been proudly displaying as a hunting trophy belongs to her own son.

Cadmus challenges Dionysus for punishing him too harshly, but the god replies that Zeus himself gave consent to all the punishments.

Every major turn in The Bacchae is driven by a refusal, a temptation, or a devastating realization. Pentheus dismisses every warning — from Teiresias, from Cadmus, and from Dionysus himself — growing more defiant each time supernatural evidence confronts him. The pivotal shift comes when Dionysus stops arguing and instead stokes Pentheus' curiosity, drawing him across every boundary he claimed to defend. By the time Pentheus stands atop a pine tree in women's clothing, the hunter has become the prey. What follows is a cascade of recognitions: the Chorus learns Pentheus is dead, Cadmus coaxes Agaue back to sanity, and Agaue grasps the horror of what she has done. The final revelation belongs to Cadmus, who learns that even innocent participation in the god's punishment carries no protection from divine will.